Govt working on road map to promote India as auto export hub

New Delhi: The Union government is making plans to attract up a long-term roadmap to promote India as a primary hub for exports of motors and spare parts with a focus on Africa and Latin America.

The trade ministry is in consultations with industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) and leading automakers to assist put together the plan, human beings at once privy to the development instructed Mint.

The Engineering Export Promotion Council of India and consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Llp were offered the mandate to adopt an in-depth assessment of the possibilities available for India’s automobile industry in overseas markets, said the 2 people stated above who did now not desire to be named.

“The trade ministry desires to sell exports of cars and spare parts to at the least one hundred thirty international locations across the globe. Though most the leading businesses export their merchandise from India, there’s nonetheless huge capacity across the globe in particular in Africa and Latin America,” said the first of the two people mentioned above. “In India, the maximum of the worldwide vehicle corporations are working, so it’ll be extremely beneficial for them as properly.”

Increased exports might be a lift to local automakers as it is taken into consideration extra rewarding than promoting within the domestic market alone. It will allow them to partly insulate their operations from any slowdown in domestic sales.

Senior officials from the ministry have already held numerous rounds of discussions with senior executives of a number of the vehicle producers and Siam, the 2 people said.

A key focus of the trade ministry is to force exports to international locations which include Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya in Africa, and to Chile, Peru and Colombia in Latin America.

Also mentioned were approaches to drive exports to West Asian international locations which include Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asian international locations consisting of Indonesia, Philippines, as well as Australia, stated the 2 people mentioned above.

“Some of the manufacturers export to countries in Latin America and other locations but the wide variety of motors exported is nowhere near the capacity,” said the second one character aware of the development. “This flow may also earn invaluable forex for the government. For instance, the complete car marketplace in Australia depends on exports. So, if we are able to similarly growth our exports there via certain agreements, then it is going to be useful for u . S. In addition to the businesses.”

Automobile exports jumped 24% year-on-12 months in the first half of-of this financial year to almost 2.Forty two million units. Exports grew sixteen% inside the remaining monetary yr to four.04 million units, in line with Siam.

With the advent of the greater stringent Bharat Stage VI (BS-IV) emission norms from 2020 and new safety norms from 2019, the requirements of automobiles produced in India are probably to be on par with those in evolved markets. Hence, the authorities believe it’s far imperative to promote India as a worldwide manufacturing and export hub for motors.

“In the years to come, automobile exports to the evolved markets will lower because demand there has softened because of a number of factors,” stated Puneet Gupta, partner director at IHS Markit, a market studies firm. “Also, more recognition on exports to markets like ASEAN (the ten countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations), Latin America and West Asia makes the experience in view that motors manufactured in India can cater to the demand in those geographies. Also, with the introduction of BS-IV emission norms, diesel automobile sales in India will lessen substantially. Manufacturers can then use the capacity for exporting the automobiles.”

Commerce minister Suresh Prabhu, at some stage in a speech at Siam’s annual convention on 6 September, hinted at this kind of circulate.

“Our vehicle exports are increasing no matter worldwide headwinds and we want a concrete movement plan to promote our exports. Only eight% of our exports go to Africa and we want to exchange this. We are also trying to ensure that the thing industry’s interests are also taken care off,” stated Prabhu.